Access all areas with the Bradford Vikings

Posted December 20, 2012

Here’s the latest update from the Bradford Vikings project, where I have been filling databases, dining out at the Ragnarök Café and preparing for the Jorvik Viking Festival.

It was clear from the outset that this project would generate a lot of data, and so would need a more sophisticated tracking system than different coloured sticky notes. Hence there have been a less than exciting couple of weeks, constructing an Access database that will hold all the scientific details about the dates and their archaeological interpretation. Once I am certain that the data that comes out is the same as the data that goes in, it will be invaluable for this project and hopefully useful to future researchers.

I also gave an update on the project at the Ragnarök Café, a space to discuss Life, The Universe and Everything to do with the first millennium AD (ish) for interested staff and students in Bradford, organised by Dr. Julie Bond. It was a useful meeting which interspersed mince pies with discussions about Viking sites, evidence for slavery and Twitter as a research tool. A much less apocalyptic experience than the title suggests!

Next public event in the project diary is participating in ‘Meet the Expert’ at the Jorvik Viking Festival in February. Planning is underway for some exciting activities, although it is hard to compete with the parallel talk on Viking poo.